The Internet has completely changed the world of media and communications. In the past decade we have seen a revolution in the way businesses and organisations operate, resulting from technological and social advances possible using an international network. This ‘new media’ is now also shaping the way political campaigns operate.

Politicians and political parties in the United Kingdom (UK) Government can learn vital lessons by observing the United States of America (USA) party candidature and Presidential race for 2008. The USA demonstrates to the world that they are the online innovators, willing to embrace the leading edge of technology and to formulate new ways of utilising emerging trends and platforms.

This is in stark contrast to the picture portrayed by those UK industry analysts who have authored papers in recent times, confronting the Government and public sectors. Robert Colvile (2008) explains that “The internet [sic] has already had an impact on politics. But in the UK, it is underdeveloped compared to many other countries, in particular the US.”1

It is true that the UK Government has initiated a process of sweeping reforms for its information technology infrastructure and online portals through the “Transformational Government Enabled by Technology”2 strategy (Cabinet Office, 2005). Nonetheless it is the politicians themselves that are still missing out on an opportunity to gain the competitive and financial edge over rivals, and are missing the great potential of successfully interacting with their constituents.

Tom Steinberg is an active and engaged proponent of the Internet as a platform for meaningful interaction with constituents, who argues in collaboration with Ed Mayo “that government could now grasp the opportunities that are emerging in terms of the creation, consumption and re-use of information. Current policy and action is not yet adequate to grasp these opportunities.”3

The online media and industry experts are also noticing and articulating the chasm between the familiar rhetoric of the UK Government and the hard to miss financial and statistical gains of the successful US-centric online initiatives. John Naughton of The Observer points out that the past “formula for [UK political] success has been to replicate what they do across the pond. All of which suggests that UK political parties are missing a trick or two… since 2004… it's been clear the internet [sic] was becoming a force to be reckoned with in US politics.”4

The platitudes in the UK are well illustrated by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair’s speech to the National Policy Forum on the 9th July 2005:

 

“This is a time to push forward, faster and on all fronts: open up the system, break down its monoliths, put the parent and pupil and patient and law-abiding citizen at the centre of it. We have made great progress. Let us learn the lessons of it not so as to rest on present achievements but to take them to a new and higher level in the future…”5

Ironically it is only in 2008 after leaving public office that Tony Blair has implemented his own advice. His own private website at http://www.tonyblairoffice.org takes advantage of now expected and commonplace technologies that are noticeably absent on most politician or party websites. The site includes an online diary (web-log or blog), syndicated news (RSS or ‘feed’), video (through a YouTube™ video stream), and a newsletter (email marketing). In spite of this the website does not particularly create an active platform for two-way communication, rather serving the purpose of keeping visitors or subscribers updated on the latest activities or speeches of Mr Blair himself.

Echoing the words of Naughton a ‘trick has most certainly been missed’ when the bulk of serving UK politicians do not yet realise just how they are falling behind the times, and that their future career could be made redundant by those that seize the present opportunity afforded by embracing the new media revolution.

1 Colvile, R. (2008). Policy, Politics, and the Internet. London: Centre for Policy Studies

2 Cabinet Office. (2005). Transformational Government Enabled by Technology. London: The Stationery Office Limited

3 Mayo, E & Steinberg, T. (2007). The Power of Information: An independent review by Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg. London

4 Naughton, John. “Obama’s golden touch on the net eludes British politicians”, The Guardian, February 24, 2008, accessed February 24, 2008

5 Cabinet Office. (2005). Transformational Government Enabled by Technology. London: The Stationery Office Limited